MBTA bag searches turn up no weapons, arrests, only false alarms

But officials say antiterror effort is a deterrent
By Mac Daniel, Boston Globe Staff
The Boston Globe
Feb. 01, 2007

In the first 2 1/2 months of random bag searches on the MBTA, police found no weapons, made no arrests, but had nearly two-dozen false alarms for explosives.

Of the 2,449 inspections between Oct. 10 and Dec. 31, the bags of 27 riders tested positive in the initial screening for explosives, prompting further searches, the Globe found in an analysis of daily inspection reports obtained under the state's Freedom of Information Act.

In the additional screening, 11 passengers had their bags checked by explosive-sniffing dogs, and 16 underwent a physical search. Nothing was found.

Still, MBTA officials said the searches have been effective at thwarting potential terrorists and have been supported by passengers.

"You don't have to be everywhere all the time; terrorists only need to know you can be anywhere at any time," Daniel A. Grabauskas, general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, said last night.

"Every single organized terrorist action that we have been able to dissect . . . demonstrated that the terrorists rehearsed and counted on the fact that there was predictability in the system that would allow them to carry out a very defined plan," he said.

The reports shed little light on whether there might be racial disparities in the searches.

While critics had said the inspections could be vulnerable to racial profiling, the T does not have demographic breakdowns of its ridership, making it impossible to compare the search rates of different racial groups to their share of riders.

In the period covered by the reports, blacks made up 11 percent, and Asians 10 percent of passengers searched.

Those racial groups made up only about 5 percent each of the total population of the Boston region extending to Manchester, N.H.; Providence; and Worcester. That region covers nearly all of the T system, which has about 1.1 million riders each workday.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts has been closely monitoring the inspections, placing ads on the subway and handing out fliers asking that passengers report any abuses in the searches.

Carol Rose, the group's executive director, said she would need more information about how the searches were conducted before accusing the MBTA Transit Police of unfairly targeting minorities.

"The number of searches taking place is infinitesimally small," Rose said yesterday. "It suggests that this is little more than a pretend security measure that is not designed and certainly won't have the end result of keeping our transit system safe."

MBTA officials said there is no racial profiling of passengers in the search policy.

"The policy was designed to protect persons' constitutional rights, while also allowing us to put a program in place to protect the transit system," MBTA Transit Police Deputy Chief John Martino said.

State and transit officials pledged that the inspections would be random, though documents supplied by the MBTA deleted all information about the times and locations of the searches, making it impossible to determine if the searches were conducted at certain times of day or concentrated on certain subway, bus, or commuter rail lines.

Timothy F. Cullen, special counsel to MBTA Transit Police Chief Joseph C. Carter, said that such information was blacked out for public safety reasons.

During the searches, MBTA Transit Police arrive unannounced on commuter trains, subways, buses, and commuter boats. They decide how many passengers to allow past the checkpoint before stopping one to be searched, based on the number of passengers going by.

For example, on the first day of the searches at Woburn's Anderson commuter rail station, police were asking every 11th person to submit to a search.

Police then use a piece of cloth to swab the zippers, bottom, and handles of bags. The swab is placed in a portable machine that can detect explosive residue.

If the machine issues a positive reading, officers either hand-search the rider's bag or expose the bag to explosive-sniffing dogs.

Passengers who refuse the search are ordered to leave the station, and any person refusing to leave is subject to arrest, officials said.

In the period covered by the reports, there were 23 "false positive" readings for explosives, set off by such items as asthma medication and hand cream.

Martino said the number of false alarms, about 1 percent of the total passengers screened, was expected. "This is standard for electronic trace detection equipment of any type," he said.

In addition, records show that six riders refused to have their bags inspected and were asked to leave the stations. All complied, but some not without some harsh words, according to the inspection reports.

Governor Mitt Romney ordered the MBTA to conduct regular, random inspections of passenger bags and packages for explosives.

Romney cited no specific threat, but officials mentioned transit attacks in Madrid, London, and Mumbai, India, that killed 400 commuters since 2004.

Kyle Sullivan, spokesman for Governor Deval Patrick, said the administration is evaluating the bag search program. He declined further comment.

When the T began the searches in October, it became the second transit system in the United States, after New York, to launch random searches.

Romney announced the searches weeks after a federal appeals court ruled in August that random bag searches on New York subways were constitutional and an effective and minimally invasive way to help protect a prime target for terrorists.

New York City -- the nation's busiest transit system, with 4.7 million passengers on an average weekday -- began its searches after the London bombings in July 2005 and started screening for explosives residue in November 2005, using technology similar to what Boston is using.

As in Boston, no explosives have been uncovered, and it is unknown whether the searches have deterred an attack, officials said.

Globe correspondent Dan Muse contributed to this report. Mac Daniel can be reached at [email protected].












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